Discovering Your Core Values

Transcription

1 Discovering Your Core Values An exploration of what matters most to you. Vision is a heart-felt, purpose-driven expression of what we intend to create in the future by taking courageous, focused action today. Jane Deuber Let the Journey Begin!

2 Seven Steps to Getting Clear about What Matters Most It s been my personal experience that discovering your top five core values can bring clarity to all aspects of your life. If you have not clearly defined your top five personal values, I encourage you to make time for this right away. While you will need about 45 minutes to begin, it is an ongoing exploration that will become more and clear as you become the observer of whether you are living your life in or out of alignment with your values. Put simply, your values are the most important defining factor to your overall happiness. By being aware of your values, you can commit to making them a priority and honoring them in your life. They represent the qualities that you stand for and act as a guide to what you want more of in your life. Understanding your values also provides insight as to why you feel the way you do at any given time. When you are living your day-to-day life as an expression of your values you will feel energized, proud and excited about life. Living a life that is NOT an expression of your top five values often creates discord, a sense of sadness and sometimes overwhelm. What makes the discussion of values a bit tricky is that quite often the reality that the values we perceive to be most important often are NOT the values we have structured our life around. For example, a high ranking executive in a company may say they value family, yet three nights a week she arrives home just in time to get the kids to bed. Our actions are evidence of our true values. We give time to the things that we value most. Another incongruence of values often shows up in the area of health and fitness. We may say that health is a top priority, yet we skip our exercise routine regularly and put processed foods into our bodies. The two simply don t match up. The process of discovering your values is as follows Step 1: Place a check mark next to the values that are important to you. (You get to check as many as you like, so have fun with this.) Step 2: Highlight in vibrant color the twelve values that if you could only live a life around these 12 values you would feel a sense of peace and fulfillment. Step 3: Get a set of 12 index cards and write on each card in big, bold letters one of the 12 values you have selected.

3 Step 4: To the best of your ability, select 6 of the cards that at this time are very important to you. Don t worry you are not committing to make these your top six. You are simply going by instinct to aid in the process of elimination. * If you are having difficulty selecting the six, proceed to the Perfect Day exercise at the end of this handout. It will give you clues as to what you want your top values to be in the future. Step 5: Lay the six remaining cards in a row before you from top to bottom. Take the top card and hold it in your left hand. Now pick up the next card at the top of the row and hold it in your right hand. Imagine that you are given the chance to live a life with one value but not the other, which would you choose? Whichever is the least important put it off to the side face down. Step 6: You now have the winning value of the two. Hold it in your left hand and pick up the next card in your right hand. Imagine that you are given the chance to live a life with one value but not the other, which would you choose? Whichever is the least important put it off to the side face down. Step 7: Repeat this process for each of the six cards until you have your last two. Now begin the process with each of the remaining cards. As you narrow the number of cards to 5, notice that the same cards remain in the pile. These are likely your top five values. Abundance Acceptance Accessibility Accomplishment Accuracy Achievement Acknowledgement Activeness Adaptability Adoration Adroitness Adventure Affection Affluence Aggressiveness Agility Alertness Altruism Ambition Amusement Anticipation Appreciation Approachability Articulacy Assertiveness Assurance Attentiveness Attractiveness Audacity Availability Awareness Awe Balance Beauty Being the best Belonging Benevolence Bliss Boldness Bravery Brilliance Buoyancy Calmness Camaraderie Candor

4 Capability Care Carefulness Celebrity Certainty Challenge Charity Charm Chastity Cheerfulness Clarity Cleanliness Clear-mindedness Cleverness Closeness Comfort Commitment Compassion Completion Composure Concentration Confidence Conformity Congruency Connection Consciousness Consistency Contentment Continuity Contribution Control Conviction Conviviality Coolness Cooperation Cordiality Correctness Courage Courtesy Craftiness Creativity Credibility Cunning Curiosity Daring Decisiveness Decorum Deference Delight Dependability Depth Desire Determination Devotion Devoutness Dexterity Dignity Diligence Direction Directness Discipline Discovery Discretion Diversity Dominance Dreaming Drive Duty Dynamism Eagerness Economy Ecstasy Education Effectiveness Efficiency Elation Elegance Empathy Encouragement Endurance Energy Enjoyment Entertainment Enthusiasm Excellence Excitement Exhilaration Expectancy Expediency Experience Expertise Exploration Expressiveness Extravagance Extroversion Exuberance Fairness Faith Fame Family Fascination Fashion Fearlessness Ferocity Fidelity

5 Fierceness Financial independence Firmness Fitness Flexibility Flow Fluency Focus Fortitude Frankness Freedom Friendliness Frugality Fun Gallantry Generosity Gentility Giving Grace Gratitude Gregariousness Growth Guidance Happiness Harmony Health Heart Helpfulness Heroism Holiness Honesty Honor Hopefulness Hospitality Humility Humor Hygiene Imagination Impact Impartiality Independence Industry Ingenuity Inquisitiveness Insightfulness Inspiration Integrity Intelligence Intensity Intimacy Intrepidness Introversion Intuition Intuitiveness Inventiveness Investing Joy Judiciousness Justice Keenness Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Liberation Liberty Liveliness Logic Longevity Love Loyalty Majesty Making a difference Mastery Maturity Meekness Mellowness Meticulousness Mindfulness Modesty Motivation Mysteriousness Neatness Nerve Obedience Open-mindedness Openness Optimism Order Organization Originality Outlandishness Outrageousness Passion Peace Perceptiveness Perfection Perkiness Perseverance Persistence Persuasiveness Philanthropy Piety Playfulness Pleasantness

6 Pleasure Poise Polish Popularity Potency Power Practicality Pragmatism Precision Preparedness Presence Privacy Proactivity Professionalism Prosperity Prudence Punctuality Purity Realism Reason Reasonableness Recognition Recreation Refinement Reflection Relaxation Reliability Religiousness Resilience Resolution Resolve Resourcefulness Respect Rest Restraint Reverence Richness Rigor Sacredness Sacrifice Sagacity Saintliness Sanguinity Satisfaction Security Self-control Selflessness Self-reliance Sensitivity Sensuality Serenity Service Sexuality Sharing Shrewdness Significance Silence Silliness Simplicity Sincerity Skillfulness Solidarity Solitude Soundness Speed Spirit Spirituality Spontaneity Spunk Stability Stealth Stillness Strength Structure Success Support Supremacy Surprise Sympathy Synergy Teamwork Temperance Thankfulness Thoroughness Thoughtfulness Thrift Tidiness Timeliness Traditionalism Tranquility Transcendence Trust Trustworthiness Truth Understanding Unflappability Uniqueness Unity Usefulness Utility Valor Variety Victory Vigor Virtue

7 Vision Vitality Vivacity Warmth Watchfulness Wealth Willfulness Willingness Winning Wisdom Wittiness Wonder Youthfulness Zeal Perfect Day Exercise For some, getting clarity around your values will require more self reflection. For this, you might try the Perfect Day Exercise. This involves the process of writing down, in as much detail as possible, a narrative description of your perfect day from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed. What will you do? Who will you spend time with? Where will you be? How will it feel? Once you have described your perfect day in details look for clues. Usually elements of those things you value most show up in your ideal day. As you identified what seems to be your top 5 or 7 values, place them on a 4 by 5 index card and keep it near you at all times. At the start of the day, review your values and ask how you might honor your values throughout your daily activities. At the end of your day, reflect on where your actions were in alignment with your values and notice how that feels. Then, note where your actions were NOT in alignment with your values and notice how that feels as well. A Never Ending Journey Please remember that the process of discovering the top values by which you wish to live your life is a journey not a destination. As you life circumstances change, so will your values. Herein lies the beauty of consciously living a value-centered life, for you will be more empowered to make powerful choices that bring you peace, fulfillment and success. Above all enjoy the process! Note: This exercise is just a small sample of the many incredible exercises included in Jane s highly acclaimed course for service-based entrepreneurs, entitled Business Breakthrough Experience. To learn more about how we can help you take your business to the next level no matter where you are on your path, robin@janedeuber.com. Personalized support is just a click away! Want to discover where you are in track in your business and what missing pieces may be holding you back? Take just 4 minutes to complete the Smart Biz Quiz. Well review your results and give you a perfect next step based on where you are on your path to growing your business. We ve got your back!

8 Who Is Jane Deuber? Jane Deuber is a sought-after business strategist, author, international speaker, and seven-time successful entrepreneur who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs transform their expertise and passion into a profitable business that they absolutely love. While armed with a Master s in International Business, it s her 30 years in the entrepreneurial trenches inspired her programs on how to master the game of entrepreneurship and her technology solutions that help experts entrepreneurs attract, engage and enroll their ideal clients. Today, Jane will be sharing her latest innovations in elearning excellence. As the founder of Virtual Academy Builder, she and her team help entrepreneurs monetize their expertise by designing and producing elearning programs that impact lasting change and create raving fan clients. Then, utilizing her ground-breaking elearning platform and her three tiered launch formula she moves experts quickly into profits and lays the foundation for creating recurring revenues for years to come.